Spring Reading

I’ve been reading several books but haven’t finished any in a couple of days. I’m listening to Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, which is a reread. The recording is a full cast production, and I’m enjoying it. That makes it a little more fun, I think. I’m also reading Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick. I took it to the doctor’s with me today and got quite a bit read, but I’m still only about halfway through. If you haven’t tried this author, I recommend him. I’ve also read his book In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, which is a movie now starring Chris Hemsworth. I’ve added the movie to my Watch List, but I haven’t seen it yet.

I’m also trying to get back into writing. I worked on my short story and submitted it to another contest, so wish me luck there. If I don’t hear anything back there, I’ll post it here so you can all read it. What I really need to do is get back to my book, but I can’t seem to make myself get started.

My writer’s group invited YA author Jennifer A. Nielsen to speak. She wrote the False Prince trilogy and A Night Divided, which is getting a lot of buzz lately. (It’s also only $2.99 right now for Kindle.) Anyway, she did a Q&A afterward. I asked her about rewriting, if she had any tips to make it easier, since that’s where I’m stuck right now. Her advice was that most writers neglect this step and quit revising before they should. She said her trick for making it less painful was to look for one specific thing on each rewrite, like dialogue, or description, or POV. That way it doesn’t get overwhelming and take forever. I liked that so much that I’m going to try it with my thriller.

Hope you are all enjoying spring (or autumn, as the case may be). We’re still very sad over Spooky’s loss over here, but we know we did the right thing. Take care and happy reading!